Crews will spruce up Post Blvd. this year

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AVON, Colorado - With all the legal wrangling between town officials and the developers and managers of the Village at Avon over the last few years, many residents took notice of one thing: Landscaping along Post Boulevard languished.

There's a lot of work to do. But Post Boulevard - which links Interstate 70 and U.S. Highway 6 past Wal-Mart - will get something of a spruce-up this spring, thanks to an agreement between the town and the metro district that manages the Village at Avon.

Avon Town Manager Virginia Egger Tuesday talked to the council about an idea for a basic clean-up in the area to start this month. The cost will be shared by the town and metro district.

Egger said town employees will be able to tackle the clean-up this month, before the real heavy work in town starts in May into the summer. Egger said she and town department managers have come up with new plans to "work smarter," in order to have people available.

The town may get some help from people who do similar work for the Eagle-Vail neighborhood. In fact, Eagle-Vail residents were some of the most persistent critics of the state of the road and roundabouts.

Eagle-Vail took over landscaping at the roundabout at U.S. Highway 6 and Post Boulevard late last fall for the Christmas season. Crews from Eagle-Vail took out dead trees, flattened out the roundabout a bit and installed Christmas lights.

Eagle-Vail Community Manager Jeff Layman said the Post Boulevard entrance to the neighborhood is "really important" to the elected representatives and residents, given that it's one of just three entries to the neighborhood.

While this month's work is just the start of a longer-term project along Post Boulevard, Egger said there's more to come.

The metro district is expected to refinance its debt this summer, and revenue from new bonds will help pay for plants and more landscaping. Egger said planting could be done in the fall, so the road will be more attractive starting next spring.

"We'll also have an idea how to treat the roundabouts in time for the 2015 (World Alpine Ski Championships)," she said.

With a settlement of the legal dispute between the town and the metro district nearly complete, mayor Rich Carroll said he wanted to "commend" the district for its cooperation on this stage of the cleanup.

"Everybody's been very cooperative," Layman said. "I hope that will continue."